Washcloth



March 6, 1951 J. F. REITER 2,544,354

WASHCLOTH Filed Sept. '50, 1947 'f/a. Z.

INVENTOR. JA 608 ff 25mm...

Patented Mar. 6, 1951 NITED ST PATENT OFF E 2 ,544,354 wAsHoLoTn Jacob lteiter, La Porte, Application September 30, 1947, Serial No. 776,977.

3 Claims. (Cl.

This invention relates to, improvements in wash cloths.

It has always. been difficult for a bath to wash his back effectively. Where an ordinary wash cloth is used the bathers arms must be held and moved in awkward and unnatural positions in attempting to wash the back and it is not possibl for many bathers to reach all parts of their backs. For this reason many people use brushes provided with long handles for this purpose. However, such brushes are awkward to manipulate, the brush is rigid and does not conform to body contours, the brush bristles irritate the skin of some individuals to an objectionable extent, and the manipulation of the brush may result in injury to the user due to striking the body with the handle or some other part thereof during its manipulation. Therefore, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a device which will avoid and overcome these objections.

A further object of the invention is to provide a wash cloth which may be used easily and effectively by a bather in Washing his .back and other parts of his body which are normally difficult to reach.

A further object is to provide a device of this character in which an elongated strip of cloth is provided with novel, strong, convenient hand grip portions at its opposite ends.

Other objects will be apparent from the following specification.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a face view of the device.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the device taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention, the numeral I designates an elongated comparatively narrow strip of cloth of any suitable type and preferably tufted in Weaving to provide a surface having projecting tufts, loops or threads which increase the water absorptive properties of the cloth. Examples of such cloth are Turkish toweling, terry cloth and the like. The strip It is formed in any desired width, for example, a width of four inches. It will be understood, however, that this Width is illustrative only and that the width may vary greatly from this dimension and be either narrower or wider than four inches. The length of the strip is is preferably substantially greater than the breadth of the body of an average individual at his chest. Thus the length may be in the order of 30 inches,

although it may be either shorter or longer than this In one preferred embodiment of the invention the strip will be, from 36 to 42 inches. The portions 12 at the opposite ends of the strip a e fo ed i wardl n ace' e ee nt with e en 'qft e s ri s id n r-H911 rei a r b ins 9 ebqu a e in ext nt T e' lded ends are stitched at 24 to the strip ID. A hole I8 is out within the registering portions between each end of the unit and the adjacent stitching 24. The openings l8 are formed of a size to permit the insertion of at least some of the fingers of the users hand therethrough. In the preferred form the opening will be large enough so that the four fingers between and including the index finger and the little finger may be inserted therethrough.

A hand grip 20 of substantially 0 form is preformed from suitable rigid material and inserted between the main strip [0 and the folded strip l2. This handle part 20 has an opening 22 therein regist;rlng with the openings E3 in the cloth strips Ill and I2. The insert 26 is held in place by stitching 24 which may partially or completely encircle the insert 29 to insure against release thereof. If desired the insert may be bonded or cemented to the cloth portions If] and 12 by any means found suitable, such as by the use of a waterproof cement. The insert may be formed of any suitable material, such as plastic, wood, waterproof fiberboard, or the like. I prefer to use a buoyant material for this purpose; however, the insert may be formed of nonbuoyant material and also may be formed of flexible material.

It will be apparent that the hand holes l8 provide a firm grip by means of which the cloth may be held while it is manipulated. At the same time the length and width of the cloth are sufilcient that the user may hold the cloth across his back and manipulate it back and forth so as to reach all parts of his back eirectively and comparatively easily. Thus by the use of this device it is possible for a person quickly and easily to wash all parts of his back and to secure the stimulation of the skin of the back incident to rubbing of the cloth thereagainst.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described herein, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A wash cloth comprising a narrow elongated strip of fabric of a length exceeding the chest width of the human body comparatively small portions at each end of said strip being folded back upon said strip, an apertured reinforcing member interposed between said strip and said folded end portion, means securing said reinforcing member to said strip and folded portion in face engagement therewith, said strip and folded end portion having openings registering with the aperture of said reinforcing member.

2. A wash cloth comprising a narrow elongated strip of fabric of a length exceeding the chest width of the human body, comparatively small portions at each end of said strip being folded upon said strip, an apertured rigid fiat handle member interposed between said strip and said folded end portion, means Securing said handle member in face engagement with said strip, said strip and folded end portion having openings registering with said handle aperture, said handle member being buoyant.

3. A wash cloth comprising a narrow elongated strip of fabric of a length exceeding the chest width of the human body, comparatively small portions at each end of said strip being folded upon said strip, an apertured rigid handle member interposed between said strip and said folded 4 end portion, means securing said handle member to said strip, said strip and folded end portion having openings registering with said handle aperture, said securing means comprising stitching of said strip and folded end portion around a portion of said handle member and a bonding agent bonding said strip and end portion in face engagement with said handle.

JACOB F. REITER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,488,332 Foerg Mar. 25, 1924 1,990,568 Scheidler Feb. 12, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 400,078 Great Britain Oct. 19, 1933 439,850 Great Britain Dec. 16, 1935 

